Steve Forbes: We're in a "serious recession"

Repeated segments in the loop of talking points this morning 10/07/08 on FOX and Friends were slams at CNBC's Jim Cramer, who yesterday advised viewers who need cash liquidity in the next five years to get what they need out of the stock market now,this week. The Friends urged viewers to remain calm and unemotional (that's a switch!) and to sit tight; Gretchen Carlson even said that she personally was getting back IN to the stock market to show her faith in the economy. (Ignore that emotional pseudo-patriotic response to an ongoing financial crisis and the apparent hypocrisy, why dontcha. They're gettin' kinda panicky over there.)

The "stars" of FOX's floundering sister FBN were all over the place - Charles Payne, Alexis Glick, Jenna Lee, and heavy-hitter Steve Forbes, as the Friends heavily promoted the channel. The chyrons did a lot of the work, telling viewers that stern father Bush says everything will be alright in the long run, and Americans just need to be patient.

Steve Doocy repeatedly called Cramer a "nitwit" and "nutty," and Carlson said if you listen to him, you might think we're in a whole heckuva lot of trouble! (This is along the lines of the first couple of years we monitored FOX and had a category for "Happy Iraq." Now we have "Happy Economic Crash.") But the chyrons reminded viewers to "Stay Cool! Don't sell everything!" Doocy ridiculed Cramer some more, and Carlson wondered if some people on teevee just say things to get noticed. (Ann Coulter, anyone?) Doocy solemnly held up the cover of the NYPost (sister Murdoch-owned company, same messaging, not identified as such) that read "Economic Crisis: The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Forbes joined them later in the second hour and reiterated that "in the market, emotions are your enemy" and advised all to ride out the roller-coaster. He thought Cramer's advice was "incomplete" and gave some investing 101 advice of his own, sorta - but too late for the current crisis - he told people what they *should* have done already.

But now that the bailout "rescue package" has passed, the markets "finally noticed... that we're in a recession, a very serious recession. When the credit markets started to tighten, that was going to effect the real economy. We're in a recession, Europe's in a recession, Asia's slowing down. So the markets are finally waking up to it."

Welcome to reality, FOX cultists. The reality-based community has been aware of this growing crisis for months - this did not happen overnight - even as FOX analystscommentatorspunditsjournalistsblowhards
have been in loud denial for a year.

Forbes recommended actions by Paulson and the SEC, and then "something Reaganesque - a big across-the-board tax cut." Democrats and editorial boards would go "kablooey," but it worked for Kennedy and Reagan, it could work now. There's that miracle tonic again - is there anything tax-cuts can't solve?

Deficits don't worry him (his family is solvent ad infinitum, why should they?); what he wants to see is the credit flowing again. More of the same, please.